


I Can Listen To You From My Echo

by puffyzuzu, wuyifantastic



Category: SF9 (Band)
Genre: M/M, i got this idea from a website prompt maker thingy, i mean i don't wanna say it but it's pretty obvious from the beginning, one of these relationships doesn't last, other members show up too but not as main roles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-06-02 22:58:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puffyzuzu/pseuds/puffyzuzu, https://archiveofourown.org/users/wuyifantastic/pseuds/wuyifantastic
Summary: Here's the thing: Seokwoo thinks this soulmate business is a load of shit. People get songs stuck in their head all the time. It didn't mean anything.That is, until he starts hearing songs he's never heard before and can't find online.





	1. The First Time

**Author's Note:**

> This game from a prompts generated from this site: https://prompts.neocities.org/
> 
> It said: Soulmate AU where if your soulmate is listening to music it’ll be stuck in your head till they stop listening to it. juho and rowoon haven't met yet. juho is going through their emo phase, and rowoon is into bubblegum pop. 
> 
> And another one that said this: Soulmate AU where if your soulmate is listening to music it’ll be stuck in your head till they stop listening to it. rowoon starts producing music so they can talk to juho through it. 
> 
> But I mixed the two.

Here’s the thing: Seokwoo thinks this soulmate business is a load of shit. Call him a skeptic, but he doesn’t think some cosmic connection that supposedly binds you to your one and only love would only be present when listening to music.

He simply gets songs stuck in his head. Like now, it is Girl’s Generation’s Gee. Which he heard on his spotify radio earlier that day. It was a stupidly catchy song, so he isn’t surprised that he had begin to think of it again even hours later.

It doesn’t mean anything.

Even if it was real, how was he supposed to find whoever was listening to that song? Popular music stations were tuned into by millions of people. Point is. He wasn’t going to hold his breath on finding his soulmate- if such a thing even existed

His parents weren’t soulmates, his aunt and uncle weren’t either. And both couples got along just fine and lived in happy marriages for two and a half decades.

Obviously soulmates weren’t needed to be happy. He didn’t know why everyone was so obsessed with finding them. He had never heard a successful story. Often times, people were wrong about who they decided was their soulmate. Divorce rates were high. Many people ended up living and dying alone because they wouldn’t settle for anything but their soulmate.

But how did someone find their soulmate with nothing but a song? Songs that were heard by millions of people.

Seokwoo wasn’t stressed. He believed in love, not soulmates.

There wasn’t much going on in Seokwoo’s life, If he were honest. He worked at the University’s library part time after classes and on Friday nights, he visited dive bars with his friends. On holidays and breaks, he flew back to Seoul to visit his parents and eat their homecooked meals.

He’s had a few boyfriends and girlfriends, but they came and went for one reason or another. Seokwoo had experienced love before, and he had mourned for its loss. He had come to Columbia University in New York just after he finished up school in Seoul. He came from a relatively wealthy family, but he was able to cover the tuition cost mostly through scholarships.

His family covered boarding and food. Seokwoo didn’t need a job, even though New York was ridiculously overpriced. It helped him to focus on his studies however. Pre-Law really was no joke.

“Seokwoo!” He hears Chanhee call, the only one of Seokwoo's close friends who can actually say his name right. And the only reason this happens is the fact that Chani is also Korean. He started at Columbia just this year, a psychology major, and Seokwoo had run into him in the library one evening stressing over midterms.

Seokwoo had been instantly taken with the younger boy, and he bought them both coffee just to keep them focused to study. That night, they hadn’t really talked, but after exchanging numbers, they agreed they were good study partners. It became a weekly thing and now, with the spring semester starting up again, they’ve become good friends.

Once Chanhee is close enough, Seokwoo continued to walk with him, keeping his pace a bit slower than usual since Chanhee’s legs aren’t as long and he can’t go as fast. Seokwoo smiled to himself at the fleeting thought, “There’s this band playing tonight at RPM, we should go check them out, I follow them on twitter. Their set starts at ten.”

Chanhee makes Seokwoo feel kind of old- of course Seokwoo has a twitter and does a lot of things kids do, he is only 21 after all, but he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on it. Usually, he would blame his time constraints, Chanhee usually called out the fact that Seokwoo would really rather sit at home watching Netflix and baking cupcakes and trying to decorate them.

Seokwoo has since stopped using his little free time as an excuse of not keeping so up to date on popular culture. He listened to whatever spotify gave him just because that was easier and he wasn’t picky. He didn’t even really pay attention, a lot of songs sounded the same to him, so if he heard one, he heard them all.

In his opinion anyway.

“Uh, sure, did you wanna pregame before since you can’t drink when we get there?” Seokwoo asked, pulling out his phone and checking his calendar just to make sure he had nothing going on. It was Thursday, which he usually spent at the dorms. It was Brooklynn 99 night. But, he could catch the replay later.

“Yeah, do you still have any more of that one lemonade stuff?”

Alcohol wasn’t allowed in the dorms, technically, but Seokwoo knew tricks and knew how to hide it from the RA. Basically everyone had alcohol stashed somewhere. As long as they were careful, they weren’t in danger of getting caught. “No, I drank it all up. I can get some more, you can head over to the dorm, I have to get some food and things anyways.”

“Okay, text me when you get back to the dorms, I’ll order pizza.” Chanhee waved as he started off in the direction of their dorms. It was just after 4 pm and they were both done with their classes for the day. Seokwoo headed to the grocery store, thoughts drowning out the hustle and bustle of the city.

The bell jingled of the corner store and at that moment, a melody flooded through his head. Soft piano, quiet singing.

It was unlike anything he had heard before. Not that he had ever paid much attention to the music he played, usually just using it for background music as he studied, but this…

This he would have remembered. And it makes him want champagne.

The song doesn’t stay long in his head, maybe only about 30 seconds, but the entire time he is grabbing Hard Lemonade and sparkling wine, it replays in his head over and over. He fumbled with his ID, the cashier eyeing him suspiciously, but deciding that it wasn’t worth the fuss and totaling up the alcohol anyway.

He wasn’t really paying attention as he paid and began to walk home. The music in his head had stopped, but it didn’t leave. That voice, a little rough and unpracticed, a little bit…. Shy perhaps?

He doesn’t think it was professional at all. But he wasn’t really one to judge on things like that. He makes sure to text Chanhee on his way back so the pizza would be on its way by the time he came back. He should be fantasizing about the pizza, the melted cheese and garlicky crust. America has better pizza than Korea, he won’t dispute that.

But, instead, his mind is on the song he heard. Scouring his brain for where he had heard it before. It’s hard to tell, really. But, he had to have heard it before. He was, in no way, creative enough to just create songs at the ring of a liquor store door bell.

By the time Seokwoo made it back to the dorm, alcohol stashed in his bag, and his back killing him from the weight of that and his books, it’s nearing six o’clock. Chanhee was stretched out across his dorm room bed. Since he was a junior, he had a single for the last two years. He definitely got lucky since not every junior was able to get a single.

“You look like you’re about to croak.” Chanhee said, barely glancing up from his phone. “You okay?”

“Do you believe in that whole soulmate thing?” Seokwoo erupted as soon as the words were out of Chanhee’s mouth, as if he had been waiting for the moment to be asked so that he could talk about it. He knew he made a good choice in being friends with Chanhee.

“Like when a song pops into your head, it’s because they’re listening to it?” Chanhee asked, sitting up. They’ve never talked about this before, Seokwoo never engaged in this kind of talk. Soulmate talk. “Yeah, I do. And my soul mate has really shitty taste in music.”

Seokwoo’s eyebrows furrow. He’s never thought about what other people experienced with this whole soulmate business. “What do you mean?”

“Man, I really hate One Direction and EXO, but whoever my soulmate is, really…. Really likes them. It’s kinda annoying, actually. It’s practically 24/7 just shitty pop music.”

“Is that why you’re always so grumpy?” Seokwoo can’t help but joke. He’s amused by the thought of Chanhee finding whoever his soulmate was and having to put up with such music. He removes his backpack and carefully places it on the ground.

Chanhee listened to rap music and hard rock. There wasn’t music wiggle room.

“Yeah, probably. I am just glad that, for now, it seems, we’re on opposite ends of the globe. I can study in peace, at least for a few hours. Though, waking up and hearing That’s What Makes You Beautiful is the actual worst.”

“So you know it is for sure your soulmate? How do you know it’s not just you thinking about the songs?” Seokwoo pressed, still thinking about the song he heard.

“There is no way in hell I would listen to that kind of music to even get it stuck in my head in the first place.”

Seokwoo can’t really argue with that, because he knows that Chanhee doesn’t listen to the radio and he has seen all the playlist Chanhee has on his phone. They were all personally created while Seokwoo just listened to generated ones.

“I never believed in the whole soulmate thing…” Seokwoo said, pulling the six pack from his bag, then the sparkling wine. He doesn’t continue, debating on whether he wanted to continue with it. It sounded crazy.

“But…?” Chanhee looked intrigued, coming closer to take one of the lemonades. “Champagne?” Chanhee asked, lifting the bottle and inspecting it. Seokwoo doesn’t correct him, there is nowhere around campus to get actual champagne, but for all intents and purposes, what he had gotten was basically the same thing.

“I heard a song today. Most times, what plays in my head, I can place where I have heard it at one point or another. Or I can find it online.” Seokwoo uncapped one of the lemonades and took a long drink while Chanhee struggled with the cork on the sparkling wine. “But this one, I can’t place?”

“Did you look online yet?”

He had on the way back. It turned up no results. Seokwoo nodded slowly, lips turned into a frown. “No results. Do you think it was my soulmate? Like he’s a musician or something?”

Chanhee stopped, eyes flickering to Seokwoo, intent and slightly narrowed. “He?” Seokwoo paused with the bottle almost to his lips.

He never meant to come out like that.

“Uhhh… yeah… the voice that was singing was… distinctly male.” Seokwoo lowered the bottle. Chanhee popped the cork and hummed. “I’m… bisexual.” He admitted plainly, so there was no other questions.

“I knew there was something that we had in common.” Chanhee teased, taking a drink of the sparkling wine straight from the bottle. His nose scrunched up cutely at the bubbles. Seokwoo, relieved, let out a quiet laugh.

“Only that?”

“Yeah, your taste in music sucks, too.” Chanhee ribbed, sitting back down on the bed. “So you think it was a song he made?”

“Yeah, I do. Or… like. Is a part of the making of. Or something. But, I know what I heard. And… I mean, I would have remembered a song like that.”

“What were the words?”

Seokwoo looked at the bottle Chanhee was taking another drink from and his cheeks colored as he recited the lyrics. Chanhee noticed and laughed in Seokwoo’s face.

“One line of lyrics and you’re whipped, huh? It’s like that.”

Seokwoo polished off the rest of the bottle he had, taking it as an opportunity to not respond. He didn’t want to answer. Because, yeah, maybe. With a voice like that, he would definitely drop everything. Something is off about the way Chanhee is looking at him, but he doesn’t dwell on it.

Seokwoo went to his bed to sit next to Chanhee, taking the sparkling wine from him. “Don’t hog it, I bought it.”

“Are you going to try and find this person? Your soulmate?”

Seokwoo was still processing the fact that he might have evidence the soulmate thing was even real, he hadn’t thought about trying to find him. He sighed and sat back, leaning against the wall his bed was pushed up to. “I don’t know? I mean, how do you even begin to find someone like that?”

“You’re right, it does seem a little pointless, doesn’t it?”

“Do you think you’ll ever find yours?” Seokwoo asked Chanhee, handing back the bottle. Just then, there was a knock on the dorm room door and Seokwoo answered it, paying the pizzaman and sending him on his way.

“I don’t think I will, and even if we did find each other somehow, I don’t think we’d get along. A person’s musical taste is very telling. I don’t think we would get along too well.” Chanhee shrugged as Seokwoo put the rest of the six pack and the pizza on his bed.

“You might be surprised, you never know what could happen.” Seokwoo shrugged, shoving half a piece of pizza in his mouth.

Chanhee shrugged again, only one shoulder this time. Chanhee liked to shrug a lot. “I’d rather focus on people in my life now than all the what ifs.”

Seokwoo, surprised something so intelligent and significant had come from Chanhee, hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose you’re right. I never cared before, why should I now?”

Chanhee raised the bottle of champagne to that and Seokwoo clinked his lemonade with it. After that, there wasn’t much else to talk about on the subject.

They did get pleasantly buzzed and full on pizza with just enough time to get to the club and get a good spot for the show. Seokwoo gets a wristband to indicate he can buy alcohol and he lets Chanhee subtly sip from his rum and coke. They’ve been careful enough not to get caught every time they’ve come here.

The band is great, with an energetic presence and some sort of rap mixed in. It’s definitely Chanhee’s style. Seokwoo found himself enjoying the music, even if he didn’t pay too much attention to it considering he was bordering on just too drunk. Chanhee shared his headphones on the way home on the train, music of the band they had just heard blasting through the small speakers.


	2. First Time Once Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I never proof read and for that I am so so sorry. But this is Juho's POV

Juho’s been fascinated with music since he was young. It was only exacerbated when his parents had told him about soulmates and how whenever a song starts to play in your head randomly, your soulmate is on the other end, listening.

It was how they had met. His father was a songwriter, and his mother had been a popular singer before she retired. His father had sold her company a song, and when he began to hear his own song in his head, before it was released, he knew.

And he ran to the company that day.

They’ve been in love ever since. Juho got to see that love every day, and it’s increased his passion for music. And every time a song ran through his head, he couldn’t help the way his heart raced. He started paying attention more and more each time a song played, to see what kind of person his soulmate was.

There didn’t seem to be a pattern. Sometimes, they enjoyed slow songs, sometimes fast and energetic. Sometimes there were no words to the music. Sometimes it was calming.

Whoever his soulmate was, Juho already found them interesting.

He took notes of every song he had heard from his soulmate. If it was a song he enjoyed, too, he would play it back sometime throughout the day. Just to give his soulmate a nudge, a little ‘thinking of you’ moment. It gave him joy to know that, whoever was on the other end, was listening to the same song, too.

Now, Juho liked his own music, and he would play it from time to time, obviously. His life was about music. His family’s success was all about music. From their love to their wealth, it was about music. Juho loved music for this reason.

He spent his life on music. He went to SOPA, he learned any instrument he could, he did his best. He tried being an idol for a time, but trainee life was no joke and when it started taking a toll on his love for music, he decided it wasn’t for him.

Nothing would jeopardize his love for music.

Currently, he was attending Seoul National University majoring in music. He loved it. He loved learning about the history of music and different styles and how to play. Juho was really thriving. He played music all day, on piano, on guitar, on so many different instruments.

This music, his soulmate wouldn’t hear. He had been curious, and the soulmate connection only worked with recorded songs, played back through an electrical device. Juho wasn’t much of a science guy, but he remembered it being about electrical currents and radiowaves. Or something.

It made him sad to know that the music he played every day couldn’t be heard by his soulmate, but it was good as well. He messed up a lot, sometimes, or he let his mind wander and wouldn’t go as fast as he needed and made it sound too lazy. Like he wasn’t trying.

This wasn’t the image he wanted his soulmate to have of him, so when he played music his soulmate could hear, he wanted it polished. Refined. Something that would move them.

He had lovers before, nothing too serious. Call him a hopeless romantic, but he was waiting for the moment when he could find his soulmate. He didn’t really have any hope of becoming a singer himself as his vocals weren’t the strongest, but he got his dad’s genius for lyrics and a penchant for any musical instrument he picked up.

He wanted to play music. Record songs and release them out to the world. A calling. A siren song. It needed to be something his soulmate would like.

Once he had the lyrics, it took him days to get the melody and a solid week to work out the notes. And even longer to work up the nerve to actually sing it. He spent a couple months practicing before actually recording and once he recorded it, he kept redoing each take.

It was never good enough. The longer he worked on the song, the more frustrated he got. And he couldn’t play it back to listen to it- he needed the first thing his soulmate heard that he created to be perfect. Emotional.

Something that he could leave a mark with.

So, it took several days of recording and deleting and frustrated defeat before he finally decided that he was just going to do it. Record 30 seconds. Just 30 seconds it all he would need to leave a mark, he thought. Maybe a minute.

He would do it. Even if it took him all night to get it right.

And it did take all night. He only realized how long it had been since he started working on the recording when the sun started peeking through the curtains of his bedroom. He had class in just a few hours and he hadn’t slept since the night before and even then, it wasn’t much.

He was exhausted enough that his nerves didn’t get to him as he replayed the clip he marked as the best one he had taken throughout the night. He did it before he could overthink and hesitate. He did it and he replayed it a couple times.

So he was sure his soulmate would hear it.

He needed them to hear it.

Once he was satisfied that he had gotten to play the song, at least just the small part of it, Juho turned off his computer and equipment and crawled into bed.

Within two hours, his alarm clock began ringing. Juho crawled out of bed and got ready for the day. He didn’t really try hard to look put together, considering the soreness of his muscles for staying up too late and the throbbing of his head from lack of sleep.

Juho attending classes with the bare minimum effort was a common occurrence. In fact, some of his classmates seemed to be attracted to this quality of his.

Taeyang mostly just said that his hair was disgusting when he didn’t comb it and could he please shave that ugly mustache.

Juho, frankly, didn’t care. What he looked like. He wasn’t focused on what other’s thought of him. When the time came, he only wanted to know what one person thought of him. But, he didn’t even know where that person was, so he couldn’t be bothered.

He would know when he sees his soulmate. His parents had described what they felt the exact moment their eyes connected and what it felt like when they first touched. His parents had said the world stopped around them, the air felt different, electrified. His mother said her heart was beating in her throat, his dad said he had actually seen the halo above her head.

Juho wanted that moment more than anything. And he would get it, he was determined. He was going to get his soulmate, even if it took years.

“You look like hell, but I shouldn’t be surprised.” Taeyang commented as they met at their usual spot. It was the coffee shop just outside of campus. Juho usually needed the caffeine and Taeyang liked the pastries. Juho usually paid for them both.

They had grown up together, Taeyang had been there for Juho on many occasions and Juho was there for Taeyang. They were just like this. Back and forth and Juho loved their friendship.

“I was up all night recording again.”

“You’re still going through with this plan?” Taeyang asked, but there was genuine concern in his eyes. Taeyang didn’t put faith in the soulmate thing. Not when he had to spend all his time trying to drown out the constant racket on the other end of his connection with music he actually liked. Sometimes it felt like a battle.

Taeyang was so certain he could never get along with someone who liked music like that.

“Yeah, I am. I… I finally played it. I played it for them. A couple times, actually.” Juho informed, excitement clear in his voice. His face lit up in accomplishment. Like he was finally realizing what he had done. He had been so exhausted when he finally played the song, he didn’t appreciate the fact that he had done it. “It was only about a minute of it, but I did it.”

Taeyang smiled at him, despite the fact that Taeyang didn’t think there was any merit behind the soulmate connection, he was proud of his friend. At least, that’s what Juho figured. That Taeyang was proud of him. “That’s great! But, what comes next? I mean, after you play the song?”

This… Juho hadn’t thought of. He had been so focused on what the song needed to sound like and what it needed to be when he played it for his soulmate, he didn’t consider what the next step would be. Music was great and all, but it would be untraceable unless he was able to get it out there. Out to the world somehow.

If his soulmate would search the lyrics, he needed to be able to find it. Or at least know where it was coming from.

The part he had played for his soulmate had only contained English lyrics. That was totally misleading. Not when he himself lived in Korea. English didn’t narrow it down at all.

Suddenly, Juho wasn’t too proud of himself anymore. “I… Haven’t really thought about that.” He trailed off. Maybe becoming an idol would have been the smart thing to do. If he sung a song before it was known and heard it, his soulmate would know when it was released. That was sort of how his parents had met. Juho’s face fell, lip caught between his teeth.

“Maybe ask your dad? Or if you started a youtube channel or something, it could go viral.”

It was a solid plan. Juho knew this. If he could get his song out there, he would be able to find him. His soulmate. But the thought of writing and singing and putting a video of himself on the internet was absolutely terrifying. Juho wasn’t exactly a performer. He just wanted to play and create music.

Someone else should be playing what he wrote. But would it really reach his soulmate. Would they really understand?

There was so much that could go wrong. So much that didn’t have a solution. Juho’s heart sank. Maybe… soulmates weren’t always supposed to meet. Maybe Juho’s parents were just so incredibly lucky to have found each other. “I’ll have to think about it. Once it is released, it would be pretty hard to track down….” Juho trailed off.

How was he supposed to do this? How was he meant to do this?

At that moment, a new song began playing through his head. The recording was rough, kind of dirty. Definitely unprofessional. Maybe an underground artist. It was all in English. A terrible arrangement of rap and rock music.

Juho’s nose scrunched. This was definitely so unlike what his soulmate usually listened to. He always thought they had a little bit better taste. Rock and rap definitely could go together but this… was too unrefined. Too messy.

He hoped this was just his soulmate experimenting.

As Taeyang left the table they were sat at to go get coffee refills and another pastry, Juho pulled out his phone. He plugged in lyrics from the song that was playing through his head and searched them.

Lyrics websites were very popular, considering the significance and there were many resources that popped up. It was tough to find what he was looking for, suggested songs and wordings that popped up not quite right.

It was all in English so far, which didn’t narrow down the location of his soulmate at all, but if he could track down the artist. Maybe… just maybe.

They definitely weren’t a group who had much money to spend on music production, which Juho could only hope meant that they were mostly local to the area, meaning that whoever was listening to them right now was around where the band was from.

Juho hoped.

“Ugh. Whoever it is has the literal worst taste in music. Right now it’s some rock rap junk that… oh my god, Juho, you are so lucky your soulmate listens to stuff like SNSD and like. Sam Smith.”

Juho’s eyes went wide. “Wait… what?”

“The person on the other end of my connection? They’re listening to some shitty rock band who thinks they can rap, too.”

Juho stared. Long enough for Taeyang to get uncomfortable and shift in his seat, “What is it?”

“Mine is listening to the same type. I’m trying to look it up… but nothing much is coming up. I don’t think they’re a very popular artist.” Juho is incredulous. Did it mean their soulmates knew each other? Were friends?

Plenty of people listened to the same song at once without knowing each other thanks to the popularity of radio stations. But no radio station in their right minds would play something like this. Juho searched more fervently, eyes burning with exhaustion and the blue light from his phone.

It took another five minutes but finally- as his head played yet another song, he tapped on the song on soundcloud. “Was it this?” He asked, as the song, which he remembered was the same one, began playing.

It was the same scratchy voice, same hectic guitar progression. Rap lyrics that didn’t make sense or have a proper rhythm. Taeyang’s eyes grew impossibly wide, mouth dropping open. “Yeah… yeah, that’s the same song I heard.”

“Their only music is on soundcloud… I don’t even know if they have any social media pages….” Juho murmured, looking down at the title of the song.

“We should find out.” Taeyang said. Juho looked at him closely, trying to gauge where this sudden excitement was coming from. Taeyang had always sworn that whoever his soulmate was, would be someone he couldn’t stand.

Taeyang pulled out his own phone, looking at Juho’s phone again to look for the artist. Juho’s heart raced. It was a start, but what would come after? What came after this in the search for their soulmates?

“They’re from New York City. They only have about 1,000 followers on twitter.” Taeyang sounded surprised, like he wasn’t expecting so many people to actually like that music. Juho must agree.

He was taught to appreciate music in all forms, but there was really nothing to appreciate about this. This was just noise. Like nails on a chalkboard.

If Juho ever met his soulmate, he would have to ask what was going through his mind when he played this artist. And didn’t close out of the soundcloud immediately. Currently, they were on song number four in their head. That was exactly four songs too many.

“I’m gonna need some really strong painkillers if they keep going.” Juho commented, cradling his head in his hands.

“They played at some bar in New York last night.” Taeyang said, still scrolling through the band’s social media posts. “It doesn’t look like they play anywhere but there.”

Unfortunately, Juho couldn’t really just hop on a plane to New York. Especially because the concert would be nothing by the time he got there. He didn’t know where they would have to go from there. “I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with that information…” Juho said sullenly, stopping the music on his phone.

“Yeah, me neither. That’s so far away….” Taeyang sighed, making his screen go dark, “I mean, it’s interesting to know. Do you think they’re American?”

It was hard to tell. Juho’s soulmate frequently listened to Korean music, but also a lot of American music as well. But, recently the music had grown so far outside of Korea, there wasn’t really any reason why his soulmate couldn’t be American.

“Maybe… Or maybe just visiting?”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that the times when mine would listen to their noise has been changing. It’s been on a different schedule for about six months. Knowing they’re probably in New York now really makes sense.”

“So do you really think our soulmates know each other? That’s kind of insane to think about isn’t it? Chances are, if I find mine, you will find yours.”

Taeyang bites his lip and his eyes go a little wide again. Like he had just connected that after Juho had mentioned it. “You’re right… but we still don’t know… how to find them.”

Juho knows this. And it kind of makes his heart sink in his chest a little bit. How do you track down one person in a world of 7 Billion with nothing but a song?


	3. Twice is Nice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chanhee has something to say.

“Dude, let’s agree to never. I mean. Never. Go out on a Thursday night again.” Chanhee groaned as he rolled around on Seokwoo’s floor.

“It was your idea.” Seokwoo said. He is currently face down on his bed, face stuffed into the pillow. “And, that band sucks when you’re not drunk.” He added. The music has still been playing when Seokwoo woke up that morning from Chanhee’s phone. The music was a racket, his head was pounding too hard to deal with it for even a second longer. He had stuffed Chanhee’s phone underneath a pile of dirty laundry until he had painkillers and a bottle of water in him and his headache was less severe.

Needless to say, he skipped classes. And Chanhee was just now moving from where he had passed out on Seokwoo’s floor, even though he had a loveseat just a meter away. “Yeah, and it was a stupid idea, do you have any ibuprofen?”

Seokwoo reached to his nightstand and felt around for the bottle. When his hand connected with it, it rattled. He grabbed it and tossed it in the general direction of where he had been hearing Chanhee’s voice. He never lifted his head.

“Ow- what the fuck.” Chanhee complained, to which Seokwoo only muttered a sorry and kept his face buried deep into the pillow. He was probably at risk of suffocation, but honestly, he would welcome death at this point if it meant he could get away from this headache and the lethargy in his bones.

He ached. He doesn’t even remember how much he drank last night. He’s still in his jeans and he is in desperate need of a shower. But he doesn’t want to move.

There is a knock on his door. “What?” Seokwoo groaned, hoping it was loud enough for the person to hear.

“It’s Terry.”

Shit. His RA.

Seokwoo scrambled to sit up correctly and straighten his clothes, he slapped his face a couple times and smoothed down his hair. But there was nothing he could do about the bloodshot eyes and dark heavy circles. Chanhee sat, frozen on the floor, just staring with wide eyes up at Seokwoo. Terry was kind of lenient, and Seokwoo chucked the empty bottles in his closet and went to his door.

“’sup-“ He said as he answered the door. It was way too casual. Terry peered at him from the doorway, eyes narrowed slightly.

“Chanhee’s roommate is worried because he didn’t show up last night, is he here with you?” Terry asked, craning his neck to see around Seokwoo.

“Oh. Yeah. We stayed up studying last night.” Seokwoo opened the door wider so Terry could see Chanhee, who had moved to the couch. Chanhee waved with a tight smile, eyes squinting. Trying not to appear hungover considering he was underage.

Terry just hummed and looked back at Seokwoo. “Make sure you get rid of any bottles, there’s an inspection tomorrow. Some kid was found with weed this morning.” Terry warned and clapped Seokwoo on the shoulder before turning to leave.

Seokwoo shut the door and let out a sigh of relief. “Dude. We gotta clean up.” Seokwoo rested his forehead onto the door, but he didn’t make a move to actually do what he had said they needed to. They did have until tomorrow, anyways.

“I guess we’re skipping Richard’s tonight, huh?” Chanhee asked.

Seokwoo, at the mere mention of another night of drinking, groaned. “Yeah, we’re skipping Richard’s. Even the thought of that place is making me queasy.”

Luckily, Seokwoo had not thrown up when he woke up. He absolutely hated when that happened. But, now, he was feeling it in his gut. He stayed against the door, eyes shut, and took in a couple deep breaths. Soon enough, the feeling passed and Seokwoo stepped away from the door.

Chanhee was face down on his couch again and hadn’t responded to what Seokwoo said. Seokwoo poked him, just to be sure he hadn’t died. Chanhee groaned and smacked his hand away. Not dead.

“Leave me alone.”

Seokwoo laughed and tossed a blanket over Chanhee. “Just sleep here, then.” Seokwoo, despite his hangover, didn’t want to get kicked out from the dorms for breaking the rules. So he began to clean, stuffing the empty bottles of alcohol into his backpack so he could toss them in a dumpster outside of campus.

“Hyung…” Chanhee said when Seokwoo made it back into the dorm room, bags of greasy burgers and fries with cokes had replaced the space previously taken up by the empty bottles of alcohol. It was perhaps the greatest hangover cure America had to offer. Seokwoo was surprised. Chanhee and him didn’t usually talk in Korean, despite both being native to the country. Even more shocking was the use of honorifics. Chanhee never used them.

“Ye, Chanhee-yah?”

“Hyung, I like you.” The confession had come out of nowhere, “I don’t know about the soulmates thing, but I know that I like you and I don’t want you to search for them when I am right here.”

Seokwoo doesn’t know what to say. Sure, what he felt for Chanhee wasn’t strictly platonic. Not when he had caught himself staring at the younger man for longer than necessary, wondering what it would be like to kiss him, or how, in the rare occasions the younger would let him initiate physical contact, he thought about the way it felt for hours.

But Chanhee…. Was so young? So Naïve. They were four years apart. Three and a half. Something. “You just turned 18 Chanhee… like literally two weeks ago.”

It was a battle he had had with himself for a long time- ever since he met the kid and found out he was only 17. It made him feel like a pervert. Someone using his influence over the younger man to manipulate him.

But Seokwoo hadn’t ever acted on what he had felt. In fact, he had done a very impressive job at suppressing the emotions until just now, when Chanhee was saying all these things. About liking him. Out of nowhere.

“I know I’m young, but I’m not a kid. And I’m not stupid. When you said you were bisexual last night, I thought… maybe you would be able to see me like the way I see you.” Chanhee plowed on ahead, as if Seokwoo wasn’t very clearly having a mental crisis right in front of his eyes. “I’m not saying you have to like me back right away, but if me being younger than you is the only issue, you don’t have to worry about that.”

Seokwoo bit his lip. Tongue-tied. “Chanhee-yah.” He said, the words a little strained. Their words still being exchanged in Korean. It made it more intimate somehow. More of a conversation just between the two of them even though there was no one else in the room that could even be included into it. Seokwoo sat down next to him, their burgers getting cold. Both their heads throbbing.

Seokwoo thought it would have been easier if Chanhee had confessed all of this when they were shitfaced the night before. But, at the same time, he knew they needed to be sober for this. “Chanhee-yah. I can’t deny I’ve…. Thought about you like that before. But, I just… I think we need to take things slow. To be sure. I don’t want you to feel pressured.”

“Shut up, Seokwoo, I know what I’m doing.” Chanhee interrupted. “I like you and I want us to date.”

Seokwoo did shut up then, but there was a smile on his lips. He took the backpack off his shoulders and pulled out the bags of fast food. “I like you, too, brat.” He handed a burger to Chanhee, smiling when their hands brushed.

The touch felt different somehow, more deliberate. “So, you’re gonna kiss me, right?”

“Nuh-uh.” Seokwoo shook his head, glancing at Chanhee when he does. “You haven’t brushed your teeth since yesterday. If I do it, I think I might puke.”

This earns him a hit to his shoulder and a little shaky laugh. Seokwoo noticed the slight blush on Chanhee’s face before he ducked it, paying attention to his burger now before anything. “Stupid.”

Seokwoo leaned over and kissed the side of Chanhee’s head. “But, if you really want to date me, we can date. I’d love it, actually.”

“You smell like sweat and moldy bread.” Chanhee mumbled, but Seokwoo knew better. Chanhee was just embarrassed. He had used up all his honest and straightforward words, now he was too shy to actually say what he had meant.

Seokwoo stuck a fry to Chanhee’s lips, waiting for him to open up before feeding him. “I know.” He said nonchalantly.

He was sort of amused at how this all came together. Chanhee was jealous over a song in Seokwoo’s head. A song Seokwoo wasn’t even sure he hadn’t imagined. Seokwoo wasn’t one to believe in love stories like that. They way he and Chanhee fell together just seemed more… realistic. Like how love was supposed to be.

Or.. well, like.

Seokwoo was definitely not at the love stage yet. He had to get used to the fact that he was actually going to try this thing with Chanhee. That he could act on his feelings for the younger man.

Chanhee was cute. Seokwoo had been taken with him since the moment he saw him. He had to admit that when he first approached him with coffee, he hadn’t exactly had pure, friendly motives. But once Chanhee had said he was only 17, Seokwoo had to back off.

But he was 18 now. Seokwoo would be 22 soon.

Seokwoo and Chanhee ate their burgers, Seokwoo would occasionally tease the boy and feed him fries. It is nice, to give Chanhee affection without the pushback. To give it and not have to struggle with his feelings later.

Once they’re done eating and their stomachs and heads are feeling better, Seokwoo and Chanhee watched a movie on his couch. Nothing seems different. Nothing has to be different, Seokwoo realized. Him and Chanhee seemed to just make sense.

They both were in desperate need of a shower, and Seokwoo has thought about just going- but he doesn’t want to leave Chanhee at the moment. And he definitely does not what to ask Chanhee to come with him to the dorm’s shower rooms.

He’d probably have a heart attack if he saw Chanhee in any state of undress. There will be a time for that, but definitely not now. Not when the thought of even kissing Chanhee makes his brain hurt. Chanhee was adorable. Always just a little prickly and hesitant to show affection.

Seokwoo maybe gets why now. If Chanhee has liked him before.

“So, when you would always hit me for showing you affection, it’s just because you were shy, right?” Seokwoo asked abruptly, sitting next to each other, thighs and arms pressed together. It’s the closest they’ve ever been.

Seokwoo is on fire.

Chanhee, however, hits his chest with his opposite fist, just a quick tap. A halfhearted attempt to shut him up. “No, you just are annoying.” Chanhee mumbled, but at the same time he was saying this, his head fell to Seokwoo’s shoulder.

Despite Chanhee’s words, Seokwoo knew and it made him smile. “Cute.”

Eventually, long after the winter sun set, Seokwoo and Chanhee take turns in the shower. Afterwards, with his teeth cleared of fuzz and his sweat washed away, Seokwoo felt a little more like a human. Chanhee checked in with his roommate, just in case he was still worrying. He ended up back in Seokwoo’s room, however.

This time, they did end up studying, just a little. The desk is abandoned, and they’re both cross legged on the bed. They each have their own different classes to study, but they have a system to keep them on track.

One paragraph read, one gummy worm. One section of notes, a reese cup. One chapter down, they get a twenty minute break. Usually, there is also some form of alcohol involved, but considering the night before and the threat of an inspection in the morning, neither of them dare to even suggest Seokwoo run to the grocery store to get some.

Usually that twenty minute break consists of a short walk and checking phone messages. Seokwoo probably has Chanhee to thank for getting all A’s for autumn semester. Together like this, they work, too.

“Let’s switch things up a little.” Chanhee proposed, unwrapping a reese cup mini. “I’ve had enough candy.”

Seokwoo remained silent until he finished the paragraph, Chanhee waited patiently for him. Once done, he looked up at the other and picked out a gummy worm. The red and blue were superior. Chanhee watched with thinly veiled disappointment in his eyes as Seokwoo ate it. He also liked the red and blue flavor. “Sure, what? We can go to the campus store on our next break.”

“I don’t want anything to eat.” Chanhee shook his head. Seokwoo blinked in surprise. Chanhee always wanted food. Something strange happened then, and Chanhee actually blushed. “If I finish the next two chapters, you have to kiss me.”

Seokwoo’s brain was playing tricks on him, surely. “Kiss you?”

“Yes. I want to kiss you.” Chanhee was so confident, Seokwoo could only wish to have that kind of courage. Seokwoo really admired him for it.

“Nothing for paragraphs and sections?” Seokwoo asked, narrowing his eyes.

“No. A kiss will keep me motivated through all of it.” Chanhee admitted.

“Okay, then you have a deal. Two chapters, and I’ll kiss you.” Seokwoo nodded in agreement. His heart rate picked up. Especially when Chanhee bent his head to start reading again. He highlighted and jotted down notes.

Seokwoo?

Seokwoo definitely wasn’t concentrating now. He watched Chanhee closely, eyes running over the curve of his pink lips. Trailed over the slope of his nose, the sharpness of his jawline. Admiring his beauty in ways he hadn’t let himself before.

Maybe the whole soul mate stuff was actually good for something. If he hadn’t told Chanhee about what he had heard, he wouldn’t have confessed. Sure, Seokwoo was a little hesitant still about their age difference, but he knew Chanhee was mature and careful.

Seokwoo would be sure not to pressure Chanhee, and he knew Chanhee wouldn’t let him anyways.

Eventually, Seokwoo turned to look at his book, forgetting everything about what he was reading about. What subject was this? His eyes scanned the page without taking in anything. It was like he forgot English all together.

“Done!” Chanhee declared, book snapping shut. Had that much time passed already? Seokwoo’s head snapped up to look at him. Suddenly, his heart was in his throat.

How did Chanhee look so composed when Seokwoo was pretty sure his brain was leaking out of his ears? Chanhee just looked at him expectantly. Seokwoo, licked his lips and leaned closed. Chanhee’s eyes fell shut, head tipping slightly.

He looked gorgeous. Seokwoo lost the nerve.

He planted a kiss on Chanhee’s cheek instead.

Chanhee would have none of that. “Hey! That’s not fair, I worked hard!”

“You never specified what type of kiss you wanted.” Seokwoo grinned, mischievously. He thought he was doing a great job at hiding his nervousness.

“Coward.” Chanhee called him out, leaving Seokwoo to wonder how he had seen through him. Was he really that transparent? “You’re scared, huh?”

Seokwoo shook his head, “No!”

“Then kiss me the way I know you know I meant.” He demanded of his elder.

“Say please.” Seokwoo joked, buying himself some time to actually gather the courage. Chanhee’s eyes flashed with something that genuinely scared Seokwoo. Seokwoo waited, tense.

“Seokwoo hyung, kiss me please~.” Chanhee pouted, the Korean coming out in a cute and playful tone. It took a second for Seokwoo’s vision to return.

And he did it, he leaned forward, Chanhee’s cheeks cupped between his hands. The first brush of their lips was light, testing. Both their eyes were closed, and Seokwoo breathed in Chanhee’s exhale. The second connection, Seokwoo didn’t let be so fleeting. He pressed their lips together, gentle still, but not without purpose.

Chanhee’s hands fell to Seokwoo’s waist after pushing his textbook out of the way. Seokwoo didn’t even care when it thudded to the floor. He only focused on Chanhee and how soft his lips were. How they parted and sucked gently on Seokwoo’s lip.

How that sparked a surge of heat in Seokwoo’s belly, which made him pull Chanhee closer, one hand dropped from his face to around his waist, hauling him into his lap. Chanhee seemed to move in sync with him, legs slipping on either side of his hips.

Seokwoo hasn’t kissed anyone like this in a long time.

Seokwoo’s hand slipped underneath the hoodie Chanhee was wearing, resting low on the bare skin of his back, pinky brushing the waistband of his sweatpants. His other dropped from Chanhee’s face as Chanhee’s hands found their way to his hair, lips moving against each other, nipping and sucking. Seokwoo’s hand gripped Chanhee’s thigh as he licked his way into Chanhee’s mouth.

Another spark of electricity shot down Seokwoo’s spine as Chanhee tugged gently on his hair. It was enough to drive him to push him down onto the mattress, lips disconnecting from his to trail along Chanhee’s jaw.

He wasn’t sure where this need was coming from. He shouldn’t be taking it this fast, but he doesn’t think he can stop now. Not when he’s held back for so long. Chanhee is just barely 18—

_Kiss my lips with champagne, you and I. tonight I want you-_

Seokwoo broke away, the music filling his mind abruptly had startled him. “fuck-“ He cursed, something he didn’t do. At least, not as much as Chanhee. Chanhee breathed heavily beneath him, eyes wide. “Sorry, I got carried away.” Seokwoo sat up, tugging down Chanhee’s hoodie where the soft skin of his stomach had been exposed in the heat of the moment.

“I’m not complaining…” Chanhee licked his lips and sat up. Seokwoo let out a little laugh, pressing a kiss to Chanhee’s forehead.

The song replayed in his head, hard to ignore. “I know you’re not. But, it’s best to take things slow. I haven’t even taken you on a proper date, yet.” Seokwoo pointed out, reaching up to his own head and smoothing down his hair where he knew Chanhee had probably mussed it up.

Chanhee’s eyes flickered to the clock. It was passed 10PM. “It’s probably too late to squeeze in a date now, huh?” There was concealed disappointment in his voice.

Seokwoo laughed again, “Cute. Tomorrow, okay? We will go on that date.”

“I won’t let you back out.” Chanhee stood from the bed and Seokwoo followed. “See you tomorrow, hyung.” Chanhee parted as he slipped on his shoes and stepped out of the room but not before stealing one last kiss from Seokwoo.

Seokwoo rested his head against the door as he pushed it shut. “Shitty timing.” He muttered, cursing the music playing in his head. But, perhaps, it was good timing. He definitely was heading towards a spiral anyway. At least it kept him from feeling guilty.

He trudged back to his bed and landed face first into it, groaning.


	4. over and over

Juho clicked off the recording again. Saturday morning and he hadn’t slept yet. It was nearing noon, so he supposed he should just try and stay up and maybe set his schedule straight again. For at least a few days before it inevitably got derailed again.

“Have you figured anything out yet?” Taeyang’s voice is crackling over the phone, but his face in the picture is clear as daylight. Juho has always thought Taeyang was beautiful, but he is jealous of the effortless beauty. “About what to do?”

“I think if I play it for them a lot, and wait a while to try to get it released, it will be pretty obvious.”

“How are you going to get it like…. On anything but your dead youtube channel?”

Juho purses his lips. His youtube channel was dead because he was too self-conscious about his music to post it anywhere. Without a decent following, his plan wouldn’t work. “I talked to my dad… he says he can get me signed as like… a indie solo artist. Through his connections. Then I can at least get stuff on like itunes? And get some promotion.”

“Using your connections, huh? Nice, nice. What if you get like super popular?”

Juho bites his lip. He only wants to accomplish one thing right now. He didn’t know how he would be able to handle being in the spotlight like that. He wasn’t idol material. “I don’t know, really? I only have one goal.”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic. I hope it works out, though. Your parents are a great rolemodel, I guess. It really makes me curious about my soulmate.”

“I wonder how ours are connected. It’s not a coincidence that they were listening to the same underground music at the same time. I really bet they’re friends.”

Taeyang pursed his lips. “Your parents get a long really well, right? Like, they were destined for each other….”

“Of course. I mean, they fight sometimes, but they always make up. Mostly before the day is even over.” Juho explained, sitting back in his desk chair, phone in hand. He hasn’t shaved, and Taeyang has already mentioned the dark stubble on his lip. “They’ve got a lot in common, but not everything.”

Taeyang looked to be deep in thought again, Juho let him to his own thoughts. The silence stretched out comfortably between them. “I really never can seem to stand the music they play.”

“My dad likes heavy metal and my mom sung pop music. But at the end of the day, they always relax to smooth jazz together. There’s probably common ground.”

Taeyang’s nose scrunched up, “Your parents listen to jazz?”

“Yeah, it’s surprising, isn’t it?” Juho’s laughter was soft as he tapped the keyboard in front of him on his desk absentmindedly. “Point is, Taeyang, you can’t decide your soulmate isn’t right just because of the music they listen to. If I find mine, you’ll probably find yours. Are you gonna reject it just because they like screamo?”

Taeyang continued to chew on his lip. Juho was just about to tell him that his lips were going to start bleeding when Taeyang responded. “But it sounds really bad, Juho. Like… really, really bad.” Despite the words, Taeyang’s tone was joking.

Juho laughed along with the other man until they fell into silence once again. “Don’t you have classes soon?”

“Yeah, I should go. The kiddos must be taught.” Taeyang waved and the facetime call disconnected. In some ways, Juho was very jealous of how Taeyang’s life was. He was in school, majoring in dance, and he had his own set of children to teach dance to. Well on his way to becoming the owner of a dance studio like he has dreamed of since they were kids.

Juho, on the other hand, isn’t comfortable sharing his music to many people and has to use his father’s connections to even get as far as he wanted. He had goals, and it wasn’t just all about finding his soulmate, of course.

He wanted to become a music producer, to write scores for movies, to be recognized for his talent in music without all the focus on his looks being an idol had been. Juho was thin already, but his company had still wanted him to diet and keep his weight down. It had been dangerous at one point, what that pressure was doing to him.

Juho frowned and turned away from his desk and keyboard, staring at the wall for a moment. If he did this, if he produced all this music and released it, would he want to be an indie artist? He could probably then use that to write and produce songs for other artists. Maybe a popular company would put their faith in him.

It wasn’t the worst way to get to where he needed to go. And who knows? Maybe if he trained his vocals a little, and worked hard on his confidence, he would be able to enjoy being a soloist. As long as he wasn’t pressured to be or look a certain way, it would be fine.

But the fact he would be alone, with no one else to have attention focused on. It wasn’t that appealing. It was the reason his youtube channel had never been touched, not even a single video uploaded.

Just then, an idea popped into his head. He picked his phone back up.

_Can you meet me at 6pm?_

He texted out. It would give the other time to plan and respond if he could. Also for Juho to put himself together and look something resembling a human. If he was going to go into music, he didn’t exactly want to do it alone. And he happened to know a few aspiring musicians as well.

The response came almost immediately, which surprised Juho considering it was only 11am on a Saturday.

_Yeah, the coffee shop in Hongdae? You know the one._

Excitement coursed through Juho’s veins, like fire. _Bring Sanghyuk and Jaeyoon along, too._

_I’ll do my best._

And Youngbin’s best happened to be exactly what Juho has asked for. When Juho arrived Sanghyuk, Jaeyoon, and Youngbin were all sat on the sectional in the corner of the coffee shop they frequented whenever they had time.

Sanghyuk and Jaeyoon were also graduates of SOPA. Juho had known them for a time when he went there, even though it was only a year before they graduated. The two of them had the most angelic voices Juho had ever heard. Jaeyoon could also play bass and Sanghyuk the guitar.

Youngbin had been a trainee at the same time as Juho. When Youngbin injured his hip and could no longer train, it was a turning point for Juho, too. Youngbin has been the closest to Juho, they were even in talks of being in the same group together.

Without Youngbin, Juho didn’t think he would have survived in that environment for as long as he did.

“Do you still have your drum kit, Youngbin?” Juho asked upon sitting down, happy to see that one of them had also ordered him his usual drink- an iced americano.

“Yeah, is that what this is about? I grew suspicious when you told me to bring along those two.” Youngbin motioned to the other two on the couch.

“Why must you make it sound like a bad thing? I think I like where this idea is going, anyways.” Jaeyoon leaned forward, dimple on full display as he grinned at Juho.

“I want to form a band.” Juho announced, not beating around the bush. If they were going to do this, he needed to be straightforward and honest. “My lyrics and compositions, your drums.” Juho motioned to Youngbin, then to Sanghyuk, “Your voice and guitar. And your voice and bass.” He said to Jaeyoon. “I will also play keyboard.”

“You sure?” Youngbin’s eyebrows rose on his forehead. “Never pegged you for the impulsive type. You’ve thought this through?”

Juho hesitated. He kind of thought it through. He had a whole plan of him being a solo artist, not much about belonging to a band, having someone else sing his songs. “I’ve thought about it quite a bit. I have connections through the industry, you know. We can go indie. Keep it all casual.”

The other three in front of him sip at their coffee, Juho lets them mull it over quietly. After a few moments, he continued. Hoping it would sweeten the deal. “I have five songs already, I just need to write the drum and bass parts, then we can start to work on recording immediately. I don’t have the best equipment, but it can get us demos to turn into some execs. This can start today.”

The three exchange looks. Tempted. Youngbin set down his coffee cup and nodded. “I’m in.” Juho’s heart leaped into his throat. One down. He looked at Sanghyuk and Jaeyoon.

“Yeah, sure.” Sanghyuk shrugged, but the beaming smile on his face gave away his excitement despite his cool reply.

“Of course I’m gonna say yes, I’m not an idiot.” Jaeyoon responded, nearly sounding offended Juho would even think that he wouldn’t join in on this idea.

Juho could barely contain himself- he nearly jumped from the couch with a shout of victory. “I swear to god, you won’t regret this. Not for a single moment.” He promised, coffee down on the table in front of them and he stood. “hell, you guys won’t even have to worry about anything, I’ll become the band’s manager, even.”

“What about a name?”

Sanghyuk’s question gave Juho pause. He hadn’t once thought about what he would want to name the band. “We can come up with that together, right?” Youngbin cut in for Juho. “And you don’t have to do everything, Juho. If we are in this, we’re in this together. We can organize gigs and stuff as a team.”

“How about Killer Gerbils?” Sanghyuk put forth. Three pairs of eyes turned towards him.

“I love how you just… had that ready to put out there.” Jaeyoon burst into laughter once the initial confusion lapsed. Juho found himself to be laughing as well.

“Hey! Inspiration strikes when you need it the most, sometimes.” Sanghyuk shrugged.

Juho knew all about inspiration and its ability to hit at convenient moments. He had had such a moment this morning when he first texted Youngbin. He had been so nervous for how this conversation was going to go, he even combed his hair and made sure the jeans he pulled on were clean without any stains. Perhaps he wanted them to see that he could put forth effort sometimes. Like he could be taken as a serious adult.

“I don’t think we should be called Killer Gerbils.” Youngbin rejected before Juho worked up the courage to. Thank god, because it was a terrible name. Juho laughed at Sanghyuk’s dejected face and sat back in his seat, sipping at his coffee.

“How about Scold?” Jaeyoon said. “Echo? Fantasy?” He listed, eyebrows furrowing.

“Well… those are good names. We don’t have to decide it right away though.” Juho waved his hands. “We have to decide where we are going to practice. My parent’s house is fine, probably. But not all the time.”

“If we can come up with some money, we can rent out a section of my buddy’s office building, he’s got this small room he can’t really rent out. We can soundproof it.” Youngbin suggested, his eyes on Juho. He was really the only one of them with money.

He nodded in agreement, rubbing his chin. He had some money saved up from what he would get from his parents. He was smart with it, he was saving up for something of the sort anyways. This could be his opportunity. “I can probably pull it all together. Do your parents still have that van, Jaeyoon? To take the equipment over there?”

“Uh, yeah, it’s not really being used since they got the new one for deliveries.” Jaeyoon’s parents were caterers, mostly weddings.

“This is perfect, then.” Juho rubbed his hands together.


	5. S(e)oulmate

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hi here is a quick (bad) update to help me get back into the swing of things. Even though I am posting under puffyzuzu, it's still only one author as I have decided to separate my EXO stuff from my SF9 stuff to keep things idk. organized?

It’s been four months since Seokwoo first heard the song play in his head. Four months and every day it was the same line, the same snippet. Personally, Seokwoo was getting sick of the sound. Sick of the voice. Sick of the song of the ghost who haunted him at night.

He loved Chanhee. In fact, at the moment, they were currently passengers on a plane to take them back to Korea for the summer between classes. Chanhee’s head was resting on his shoulder, dozing peacefully.

Seokwoo had always admired the way Chanhee could fall asleep anywhere. Especially while he himself was currently filled with anxiety. His parents were coming to pick him up from the airport. He had told them about Chanhee, but he didn’t know if they would like him.

They supported his attraction to men, but still. Chanhee wasn’t that polite to him, and he was young. Even if he had a very respectable major and was a successful student. Realistically, he knew his parents would love Chanhee and he didn’t know why he was so nervous. But he was. He wanted them to like Chanhee as much as he liked Chanhee which, in the four months they had officially dated, was a hell of a lot.

Seokwoo looked at his boyfriend, resting on his shoulders. He glanced around and pressed a subtle kiss to the top of his head. Chanhee was a brat, at best, but Seokwoo knew it was just because he felt too shy to say and do what he wanted to do in a straightforward manner. But, in the past few months, he has been getting less shy and more straightforward with their affection.

Even if Seokwoo was distracted, every once in a while, by the songs in his head. Particularly the one he only heard 30 seconds of. It was, quite frankly, keeping him from really enjoying his time with Chanhee. But, only in the times after it played. Which tended to be at the worst times. More than one peaceful moment was disturbed by that song.

Chanhee never really asked, but Seokwoo always felt a little guilty about it. He didn’t want Chanhee to think he wanted to meet his soulmate, or felt anything for the mysterious person on the end of the connection.

But that song… he wanted to hear more of it. More of that voice. Even if he hated it. Was sick of it. Maybe it was the curiosity gnawing away at him and that was why he wanted to hear more of it. He wanted to know what the song was even about.

Right now, he was hoping for a quiet time this vacation. He wanted to get closer to Chanhee, to have his parents like him. To maybe introduce Chanhee to some of his friends, too.

Chanhee stirred on his shoulder and lifted his head, his eyes are barely opened when he started to speak, “What time is it?”

Seokwoo’s heart does that little flipping thing, the one that makes him grow even more fond of Chanhee. It’s the rough sleepiness of his already deep voice- much deeper than his small, cute face should sound like. “It’s around five, we’ve got a couple hours left of flight.” Seokwoo answered, slipping his hand into Chanhee’s.

Chanhee laced their fingers together, “Let’s watch a movie together, you have your computer, right?”

“yeah, what do you want to watch?”

“Avengers?” Chanhee asked, resting his shoulder back onto Seokwoo’s shoulder. “The new one.”

“I think we have enough time for it.” Seokwoo unfortunately had to disturb Chanhee’s head from his shoulder so he could get below his seat for his laptop, putting his book away. “It would definitely make the time go by faster.”

Once it was all set up on the tray table, Chanhee’s head found Seokwoo’s shoulder again- at which Seokwoo couldn’t help but turn his head to kiss the top of it like he had done several times throughout the whole flight.

It was a long flight.

One he was glad to get off of. So much so he was willing to embarrass both himself and Chanhee once they were off by shouting a loud and grateful, “We’re home!!” once they made it to the terminal. With his hands flung high in the air, Chanhee landed a gentle hit to his side.

“Hyung, you’re being dumb.”

Seokwoo merely laughed and readjusted the bag on his shoulder. Seokwoo had barely felt when Chanhee had jabbed his side, which, in Chanhee language, meant that he had liked what he had done. This theory was only confirmed when Seokwoo put his arm around Chanhee and the younger didn’t duck away.

“My parents should be waiting by baggage claim. Do you need anything before we leave?”

“No, everything is more expensive in airports, hyung.” Chanhee rolled his eyes and Seokwoo felt him lean in closer to him, which caused Seokwoo to smile subtly. They basically followed their instincts in making it to baggage claim, as they had both used this airport countless times when traveling to and from home and America.

Before either of them knew it, Seokwoo and Chanhee heard their names being called. Much to Seokwoo’s surprise, there were two sets of parents there. He thought he was seeing double, and when he blinked a couple times and found both of them still there, he looked at Chanhee with wide eyes.

Chanhee only laughed, head thrown back in delight.

“I’m meeting your parents?” Seokwoo’s voice raised a couple octaves as their parents moved closer to them. Seokwoo only had a moment before he would be engulfed in his mom’s arms to get a straight answer.

“Surprise.” Was all Chanhee said before they were both encased in their respective mother’s warmth.

“Ah, Seokwoo, you’ve gotten so skinny, where is the money going that we send to you? Huh?” Seokwoo’s mother gushed, pinching his cheeks and fussing. He shot his father a helpless look and his father did something very much like his father. He shrugged and let his wife do what she pleased.

Truth was, he has used that money for something different. Sure, he was also buying Chanhee food whenever the younger would let him, but he also had a plan for that money. Something he was planning on doing before they went back to school.

It took a moment for Seokwoo’s mother to stop fussing over him so that he could properly see Chanhee’s mother. Who was small in stature, but her smile was bright and her hair shiny. She had the same type of feeling as Chanhee. Calm, quiet. A little shy, maybe. His father was tall, not as tall as Seokwoo, but still tall and muscular.

It made Seokwoo’s arms break out in goosebumps. “Hello!” Seokwoo bowed deep, nearly 90 degrees. This made Chanhee’s mother chuckle behind her hand.

“Yah! Hyung!” Chanhee interrupted, “You don’t have to do that-“

“I’m Seokwoo, it’s really nice to meet you.” Seokwoo was internally panicking, too busy introducing himself to Chanhee’s parents that he didn’t notice Chanhee himself walking over to Seokwoo’s mother and introducing himself, giving his father a firm handshake.

Chanhee’s parents were nice, and his father was softer than butter despite his beefy looks. Seokwoo felt accepted by them by the end of dinner and honestly, even though he had no time to prepare for it (and would have to talk to Chanhee about it later), he was really happy that he got to meet them.

It was agreed that Chanhee and could stay with Seokwoo and his parents, but needed to visit often as they only had the summers with their son. Seokwoo could understand this settlement, he hadn’t even thought that Chanhee would stay with him the whole summer. They only lived an hour apart from each other, which wasn’t that bad to travel by train.

“Why didn’t you tell me that your parents were going to be there to pick us up too?” Seokwoo asked Chanhee as they got up to Seokwoo’s room in his parent’s house. “I didn’t have any time to prepare.” There was a whine in his voice and a pout on his lips. Chanhee just looked at him with amusement.

“I knew if you knew that you would freak out and make a fool of yourself.”

“But isn’t it more genuine that way?” Seokwoo tried to hold back his grin. When Chanhee put it that way, it was really sweet. Seokwoo definitely thought the impression he left on Chanhee’s parents that time was a good one.

If he had overpsyched himself up he probably would have done something stupid. Like mention the fact that they hadn’t even had sex yet and, in fact, he didn’t know what sex was. Which would have been a lie on all accounts.

“You would have told them intimate details they didn’t need to know.” Chanhee rolled his eyes and stretched up to peck Seokwoo on the lips. “Your room is adorable. I think the Naruto poster really sells the entire feel of the place. Can’t wait to cuddle with Kakashi Sensei staring at us.”

“Wait until you see me in nothing but a Konaha headband.” Seokwoo winked.

Chanhee’s face scrunched up in disgust and he turned away from Seokwoo. “I need to take a shower, you need to think about what you did.”

Not about to shower together in his parents house, Seokwoo just sat on the bed and looked over his room.

Chanhee was right, though, this really didn’t feel like the room belonging to a future lawyer. It was a 180 degree shift from the minimalist décor he had in his dorm room. At least his Pororo fleece blanket wasn’t on his bed.

That would have been a major embarrassment for Chanhee to witness. He still wanted to remain a little cool in the younger man’s eyes.

Though something like that might be impossible at this point.

Seokwoo was checking his messages and emails by the time Chanhee rejoined him in the room. “Your mom stopped me in the hallway, said you couldn’t sleep without this.” Chanhee tossed a blue fleece blanket at him. Seokwoo only had time to see Chanhee trying his hardest not to burst into laughter before he was covered by the Pororo blanket.

“That’s! not true! I sleep just fine without it.” Seokwoo ripped the blanket from his head and tossed it to the ground, lips pulled into a deep pout as Chanhee just laughed. It was hard to stay upset when the laughter Chanhee was producing was a deep and genuine belly laugh. Before Seokwoo even knew it, he was laughing as well. “I can’t believe my mom set me up like this…” Seokwoo grumbled.

His mother was quite the humorist and was always thinking of new ways to playfully embarrass her son. It was one of the things Seokwoo loved about her so much. “I wouldn’t doubt you had a hard time sleeping without it when you first left. Even now, you always cling to me. Am I a replacement for Pororo?” Chanhee teased, climbing into the bed and under the covers with Seokwoo.

“Pororo is much cuter than you, brat.” Seokwoo huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’ll show you that I don’t cling.”

“If we wake up tomorrow and you’re stuck to me, you have to buy me beef anything I want to eat all day.” Chanhee said, holding out a slim pinky.

Seokwoo looked at the digit in contention. He knows he will probably lose the bet, as he knows he has a tendency to cling, but he also didn’t like the smugness in Chanhee’s tone. He hooked his pinky around Chanhee’s and pressed their thumbs together. “If I win, you have to go to Namsan tower with me.”

Chanhee’s cheeks flushed a pretty shade of red, which Seokwoo admired for a moment before Chanhee regained his composure, “What a sap, you want to put a lock up there, don’t you?”

“Yeah? So? Don’t you want to?”

Chanhee hadn’t expected the question, if the secondary darkening of his cheeks was any indication. He stumbled over a few syllables, before finally settling on a quiet and simple, “Yeah.”

Seokwoo’s grin made Chanhee turn away from him, “Go to sleep, dummy.” He muttered, pulling the blankets over his head. A satisfied Seokwoo slid down farther into the bed and settled down to sleep. Even if Chanhee had gotten more comfortable in his affection, moments where Chanhee became overwhelmed were still common.

And they made Seokwoo adore Chanhee even more, if such a thing were even possible.

That night, Seokwoo dreamt of fields of clover and sunshine.

When he woke, he had Chanhee pressed to his chest and a song in his head. “It’s Korean.”

“What?” Chanhee, who had been scrolling through his phone, responded, glancing over his shoulder with furrowed brows. “What’s Korean?”

“The song.” Seokwoo responded, the song still playing in his head. It was the same song he had heard a thousand times only this time… This time there was more of it. More of the voice and the words and the song. The song.

Chanhee by now had turned completely in his arms, the look of confusion still on his face. “What song?”

Seokwoo hadn’t ever mentioned the song to Chanhee. He didn’t feel right mentioning it. But knowing… that the person at the other end of the connection was Korean was… well it narrowed it down a hell of a lot.

Were they close to each other now? Was his soulmate in Korea? In Seoul?

“The song I hear every day in my head.” Seokwoo confessed, looking into Chanhee’s eyes, trying to detect any change. If this would lead to the end, in some ways. “Do you remember when I first heard it? The night before you confessed?”

“It still plays?”Chanhee’s eyes narrowed, Seokwoo couldn’t read the emotions behind them. Chanhee was very good at concealing them.

“Yeah, but it’s only ever been one line.” He said as the song in his head blared. Louder and more distinct than ever before. He was on the verge of a headache. “There’s so much more now. It’s in Korean.”

“So, chances are they’re here. In Korea, huh?”

“Yeah.” Seokwoo croaked. A few moments later, his head went silent. Static. He sighed with relief and pulled Chanhee closer again. “I owe you lunch, don’t I?” Seokwoo mumbled into Chanhee’s shoulder.

“I never said anything about stopping after lunch. You owe me for the whole day.”

Seokwoo whined, but he knew he wouldn’t ever be able to deny Chanhee of anything anyway. “Fine, but we’re still going to the tower.”

“Fine, fine.” Chanhee laughed, pushing away. “Hurry up and shower, then, I’m hungry.”

Seokwoo, thankful that the subject of his soulmate was dropped so smoothly and it didn’t seem to effect Chanhee’s mood, gave his boyfriend a quick peck on the cheek and climbed out of bed.


End file.
